not radio related. My air compressor blew up in sparks and fire. Replacement?

[N3DRB The Derb]

I need a new kompressor. the one I had was porter cable. Didn't even last a year. Had one of those 3450 RPM direct drive motors with the oil free pump in it.

Is oil better than no oil? which is the best balance of noise and power? I'd like it to be as quiet as possible. The Porter Cable unit was way too loud. What should I get for radio shop use?

[WBear2GCR]

Air compressors tend to make noise, how much noise varies.

Most of the "direct drive" units with small tanks seem to be made to run things like nailguns and the like on a so-called construction site.

The "other" style is the motor-compressor-on a tank type. They tend to be quieter, but often lower in CFM for their size.

I'd take a look online at Harbor Freight, and of course the usual suspects of Lowes and Home Despot. You're in PA, so maybe look and see what Grizzly is selling - they're based in mid PA.

I'd just guess that your compressor may still be in warranty? Check.

If you said what you were doing with it, and how many PSI @ what CFM and your space/mounting considerations that might narrow down some candidates.

If you have a tank and motor available, Harbor Freight sells a few different Chinese made stand alone compressor units... guess you have a tank in the dead unit, so all you need is a motor and a board or metal plate to mount the motor and new compressor. If you want to go that way...

               _-_-bear

[WQ9E]

If you have a Harbor Freight store nearby take a look and see what is on sale.  Five years ago I bought one of their portable oil type (3.5 horse rated as I recall) compressors on sale for $99.  I bought it just to have a convenient portable source of air so I wouldn't need to run a lot of air hose from my large 2 stage Porter Cable compressor in my barn wood working shop.  In the years since I have bought it I have used it far more than the big PC fixed unit and it has run without a hitch.  I changed the oil at about 5 hours usage and again last year but other than that no maintenance and it has had some fairly hard usage including running a chipping hammer for several hours when I cut out the door opening to the new basement through the old basement brick wall.

 I much prefer oil type compressors and in general they tend to be a little quieter and should last longer with a little care.  Since it sounds like one of your major uses is air to blow off dust you could put your compressor quite a ways from your bench and run 100 feet or so of air hose to the bench and keep the noise elsewhere since a little loss of volume/pressure will not be a big deal.  If you are painting (or particularly spraying finishes) with your compressor it is always preferable to have a fair amount of hose between your compressor so the water vapor in the air stream can "drop out" and then mount the water separator filter near your gun.

Rodger WQ9E

[N3DRB The Derb]

I basically need it for:

blowing off the bench carpet while cleaning up

blowin all the dustbunnies away off he floor and blowing dust, solder blobs and flotsam/jetsam out of radios

light duty riveting work with a grizzly air rivet gun

inflating tires, operating some air grinding/ sanding stuff.

[KF9CM]

Derb,

What you need is a Coleman VP201 it's a small air compressor that does the job you need to do. I have one for stuff I need to do when I don't need to use my big compressor(80 gallon). I call it "The Pig" as you can see by the picture it kinda looks like a small pig.


73 de Gary,KF9CM

[John K5PRO]

Direct drive compressors, in my opinion, are screamers. They run high RPM, and vibrate to heck. I bought a nice old-fashioned belt drive from GRAINGERs, has a dipstick for oil, and a good tank. It is the cats meow. I am very happy with it. Been 3 years now. I do similar stuff with it, plus blow out the drip irrigation pipes every fall before freeze hits.

[N3DRB The Derb]

my old one before it blew up was loud as hell, vibrated all over the place, and had to turn on constantly to maintain pressure with good hoses and fittings. I think it was simply a chinese made POS. it ran 3450 rpm with some direct drive motor.

After doing some more research on the web since his morning, I'm convinced the oil type lower rpm compressors are the way to go.  I think a medium chug hug chug beats WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 

[John K5PRO]

This is the one I got I think. It is being discontinued, so the price is good. You have to find someone who has an account to get it from Grainger though. They're in most cities.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4B227

A really nice one from Sears:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00919541000P?mv=rr

Did you notice that all the cheapest Sears compressors are direct-driven oiless screamers, with a plastic cover over the compressor to keep from getting burned? All their larger more professional units are low speed belt driven big boys.

[WD8BIL]

The direct drive 25 Gal. Craftsman I have has built 2 houses a garage and 3 large sheds along with countless kitchen cabinets and other projects over the last 12 years.
Ya.... it screams but ........ it's still screaming long after I thought I'd kill it.

[N3DRB The Derb]

I'm gonna look around for a vertical tank one. I got a nice corner to put it in. I know I'm not gonna get any direct drive unit - the twin cyl oiled jobs that run around 1750 rpm are the best
for a fixed location where you dont have to move it. Been reading the hell out of anything on the subject I can find.  I've seen some used for local pickup on ebay that are in my general area I could run and inspect. Cant afford a new one like that.

I really hate not having one now, but I never had one before for bench work - didnt know what I was missing. I'm down at my dad's place for 2 or 3 days....cant work on anything down here.

The only free day I have to be at home all day this whole week is Wed. Of course, Sunday is the Barryville Hamfest.  That don't count.